Returning Home
by C. de la Fere
Summary: I blame my friends for this one. Tali!Garrus. Some Language.


**Disclaimer: **_It's all property of Bioware_

**Author's Note:** _Yeah, I'm out of order on the companion recruitment. Meh :P_

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><p>Hsssst. The Airlock closed tight and secure behind them.<p>

"JOKER GET US THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

"Aye, Aye, Commander!"

It was always hectic coming back from missions.

"MEDIC!" "Someone alert Medbay!" "...since when do we use the term 'medic' on board this ship?" "You! Go tell Chakwas she has incoming. You! Go tell Mordin to get his ass over there too!" "Watch the CHOP Joker, we can't keep him still as is!" "No, tell Mordin to come HERE, stat!" "Keep pressure on that!" "Which part? He's bad all over!" "On that, dumbass, where it's bleeding the most!" "Where the fuck is Mordin?" "So shoot me if I don't know alien physiology!" "Outta the way, soldier!" "Move, move MOVE!"

Today was particularly hectic.

"Problem?" "Thank God." "Big problem! No no no no no, artery HERE, move clamp." "Like this?" "Yes yes, there. Fast, on to stretcher!" "Lift!" "Good good good. Need iv from lab, Chakwas unequipped for turian. That I know of. Better safe! Meet downstairs." "Ok, but hurry!" "Course!, in meantime: you - apply this. You? Unnecessary."

Mordin flew back to the lab at top speed, brushing past what was now a rather large gathering of crewmen, even for this ship.

"What on EARTH happened to HIM?" The Yeoman's eyes were as big and wide as grapefruits as the crew moved the stretcher down towards the medical room.

"Challenged a rocket with his face and lost, that's what happened." Jack sunk in to a wall trying to catch her breath. "Who does that twirp think he is, huh? Elbow deep in blue bodily fluids and all the thanks I get is 'you, unnecessary'? Screw them, I'm going to get cleaned up."

"He took a …. a what?"

"A rocket, Chambers." Jack's eyes were harder than usual after being brushed off by someone she figured she could have beaten up for lunch money. "To the face. Didn't ya hear me the first time?".

Kelly knew it probably wasn't a good idea to upset Jack any more than she already was, but wow. No one on this ship had ever come home with a wound that bad before. There had also never been a turian through that airlock before either. She hoped Chakwas and Mordin could patch him up well enough, this was going to be someone fun to talk to. "Yes, I understand," she reassured placatingly. "Do you know who he is?"

Jack snorted, already half way to the elevator. "Some upstart the mercs all named 'Archangel'. Justice obsessed like all turians, but kinda crazy and damned ruthless in the fight." She paused in her walk to face the yeoman and her gathered crowd again. "We might get along. We might not if he's softer than he seems. Either way, the Commander knows him from way back or something, so he's probably a goody goody like all of her friends were." The biotic got in to the elevator and disappeared.

A petty officer let out a long whistle.

"Just so long as Shepard never comes back like that."

"don't say such things, it brings bad luck."

"Meh, Miranda would just patch her up again. The first rebuild is the hard one right?"

"Yeah, the rest is probably as easy as software upgrades."

General chuckles all around, trying to relieve some of the tension from what had just happened.

Crewmen milled about somewhat. The escape was made, not much to do now in open space. Especially with no course set besides "Get us out of here!".

Kelly relaxed, knowing that their newest shipmate was in the best medical hands this side of the galaxy.

Whhooooooshhh. The elevator opened. "Alright, alright, the show's over, back to your posts." People scurried as Miranda's heels clicked on the metal floors. "Moreau, as XO, I have the deck while the Commander is below."

Joker's voice came over the intercom. "Sure thing, ma'am. Hey, how's Garrus? That was Garrus, right? At least I'm pretty sure that's what the Commander shouted at me from the pick up zone. He ok?"

Miranda looked up from the Commander's consul where she'd already firmly planted herself. "I have no idea what his real name is, and only the doctors could tell you if he's ok."

"Yeah, yeah," the pilot seemed somewhat disappointed in being excluded from 'the loop' like usual. "I hear ya 'back to work'."

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><p>Medbay was a dervish.<p>

Mordin had arrived as fast as he'd disappeared in the CIC, bags of blue and purple liquids hanging from plastic tubes strung around his neck and arms. A petty officer that he'd managed to grab followed him panting, arms full of metal boxes decorated with big thick red crosses and smaller chemical symbols for dextro DNA strands. "Yes, yes, excellent. Dismissed. No, wait, hold this. Higher. Good. Stay there..."

Chakwas was the exact opposite of her compatriot. Her hands were a blur working under the lamps as a calm but intense look of concentration seemed to block out everything else from her view. The only words she'd uttered before slipping in to this state were something about 'medical personnel only' and 'disinfecting'. While Shepard was trying to find any excuse to stay and be there for her old friend, she understood that this was as harsh a way as any that the doctor had to tell her "get out of our way, you're really just a hindrance right now." Besides, someone had to go tell Tali.

"Thanks for the show, Jacob," she said as they were both being kicked back out in to the mess hall. "Damn good reflexes on that one."

"Anytime, Commander." he was always perfectly composed, Shepard had yet to find anything that really phased the man. "Hell of a position we were all in back there."

"No kidding." she was just now starting to notice how much her muscles ached from carrying her companion back to and through the ship after such a fight. "We all made it back, though, this mission accomplished and that's what matters." Her hand went to rub the back of her neck and she saw exactly how much blood it was covered in. Mental note: shower on top of disinfection.

"Let me know if you need anything, ma'am." Jacob saluted – his usual way of parting with someone when he was feeling particularly soldierly.

"Yeah. Debriefing in the meeting room in an hour." She remembered that she should speak to Tali, probably before cleaning up. Didn't want someone else to get to her first. Besides, the blood was blue...looked more like paint than blood. "Make that an hour and a half."

"Yes ma'am!"

Shepard listened to his footsteps retreating towards the showers as she glanced back through the medbay windows one more time. Maybe there was enough time to at least go wash her hands before heading down to engineering?

"Shepard!"

Nope. Word travels too fast on these small frigate class ships.

"Keelah, Shepard! You're covered in blood!"

Second mental note: Tali probably bleeds blue too. Maybe? She'd never seen a quarian bleed before. Other levo races bleed red. Well, except salarians. Focus...

Tali was now pressed somewhat against the medbay window trying to take the whole scene in. "What happened out there Shepard? Is it true? Joker says that that's Garrus." She shot Shepard as accusing a look as she could through her helmet. "I could have come, you know. You should have taken me with you!"

Shepard extended a hand to comfort the quarian, but retracted it remembering that covering her engineer's suit with potentially infecting antibodies might not be the best way to console her. She answered softly as she could. "We had no idea until we'd made it in to his base that it was him." Tali was looking back through the window again. "He'll be ok, he's tough."

The quarian nodded somewhat before responding. "Go wash up, I'm sure you are a walking bio hazard." She sighed. "Do you think they would mind my sitting in?"

"I'd think if you can get in without Mordin immediately shooing you out, you're good. They're too distracted to notice elsewise."

Tali nodded again. "Thank you for bringing him back, Shepard."

"No prob, Tali. Don't worry – It'll be just like old times."

The door slid open with a whoosh and a streak of black and purple darted quickly in to the corner of the room beyond before the door slid closed again. She stayed against the wall and out of the way, and as Shepard had guessed neither of the doctors took much – if any – notice.

Debriefing in an hour and seventeen. Time enough to at least wash up and come down from the all too familiar adrenaline rush that still coursed through her every mission. And they had Garrus back. She didn't know if he'd be in fighting shape any time soon. Or ever again really, but between him and Tali, the ship would seem more like home. And boy was Chambers going to have a field day with those two.

She told EDI to take the elevator up to her quarters. Things just might be starting to look up.


End file.
